Young & Restless Goes *Way* Off: The Show Is Hiding a *Lot* From Viewers — But Why?!?
Listen, we love The Young and the Restless, but the lack of onscreen substance in the soap lately… not so much. The cardinal rule is “show, don’t tell,” but the show has drifted into an ongoing format that mostly consists of talk.
Not only does this negatively impact the daily drama factor, it’s particularly disappointing when plots that would be emotionally impactful play out off screen. Why hide the good stuff?!
Where’s Mariah?
Mariah has split from her wife and seemingly believes she committed a murder, but we’ve only seen glimpses of her agony on screen. At this point, it’s been a couple of weeks since we even laid eyes on her. We’re watching Tessa grow closer with Daniel, but no reaction from Mariah.
Perhaps the writers want Mariah “out of sight, out of mind” so viewers will invest in Tessa and Daniel’s relationship, but this creates a problem because we care about Mariah and what she’s going through. Ignoring her emotional journey creates a disconnect that doesn’t serve the audience or the story.
Big Feelings
Young & Restless dissed legacy character Chance Chancellor and fans when they decided to kill him off and not even bring Nina and Jill back for a funeral in Genoa City.
We didn’t even see Abby and Dom! Even those on screen didn’t react appropriately to his death. Billy was all business and Sharon, who once cared deeply for Chance, was written as though she’d hardly known him.
Adding insult to injury, is that the funerals of two other characters took place offscreen as well… in favor of repetitive, droning business talk. We’re here to laugh, gasp, and cry. To feel. Why is the big emotional stuff being sidelined for “musical CEOS?”
Why Should We Care?
Cane Ashby has been off screen for six years and yet the whole show is somehow revolving around him now that he’s returned with a new face. The same is true for his children, who remain off the canvas even though much of the conversation on Young & Restless the past week has centered on their off screen reaction to their father’s deception.
It’s a bizarre choice that’s left many questioning the writers’ thought process
The story is not resonating on a number of fronts. Mattie and Charlie are not even on the canvas, and here we are trying to muster up sympathy for them because *checks notes*… their father became a billionaire? It’s not exactly tugging at our heartstrings.
Adding to the issue is that NuCane’s entire story played out off screen. Therefore, it’s tough to jump back into caring about him, let alone his grand takeover plan. So far, it’s Tucker McCall all over again. Bring on a daytime vet as a recast, plunk them on the front-burner, and have them make vague threats toward all the business types in town without anything ever happening beyond endless talk.
We don’t even understand Cane’s endgame, which makes it incredibly difficult to invest.
